Mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops and Smartphones are now often being used as a replacement for personal computers (PCs) in many organizations. In many cases, sensitive information associated with the organization (e.g. files, folders, etc.) may be stored on these devices. Additionally, because mobile devices often have the ability to connect to network resources intermittently, monitoring the devices, corresponding software, and stored data is a daunting security management task.
Mobile devices by nature are small, easily misplaced, and are attractive to criminal elements looking for sensitive information on unprotected machines. Thus, sensitive business information and documents are now at risk and the threats that need to be addressed with these converged devices are nearly equivalent to those of the PC. However, mobile devices often offer separate and additional functionality not found on PCs that should also be considered when addressing information security issues.
Furthermore, organizations and security professional are continuously tasked with finding better solutions for data loss prevention (DLP). Though some solutions are currently available, these solutions do not address every problems associated with DLP. For example, if a non-encrypted device is lost or stolen, unauthorized users may have the ability to view confidential data on that device, leading to data loss.
There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.